Speaking on the incident on Tuesday, a top military source disclosed that “our men were outgunned and outnumbered.”

“We lost five men in the fight. Five more were injured,” the military officer who sought anonymity because he was not authorised to speak about the incident said in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.

Mustapha Karimbe, a civilian assisting the military, said the jihadists took military vehicles and burned three armoured cars along with makeshift sheds at the checkpoint.

“The terrorists attacked the soldiers… and remained in the village for three hours before they withdrew,” said Karimbe.

This was the second attack on the same military checkpoint in under a month.

Late last month, jihadists dressed in Nigerian military uniforms attacked the checkpoint and forced soldiers to withdraw before looting food and medical supplies from the village.

It is understood that dozens of fighters loyal to the Boko Haram faction headed by Abu Musab Al-Barnawi on Monday night stormed a checkpoint near Sabon Garin Kimba village about 140 kilometres (90 miles) from Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram.

Boko Haram, in its attempt to establish an Islamic caliphate in Northern Nigeria, has killed over 20,000 people with more than two million others displaced during a seven-year insurgency.